Soldier lashed out at revellers

A SOLDIER from Stretham praised for his “attitude and commitment” to the Armed Forces admitted he fell below his “high standard” when he attacked a party-goer during a scuffle.

Dominic Hutter said he was “very ashamed” for lashing out at a reveller in Cambridge on December 4 last year.

CCTV images show the 22-year-old punching another man in the face before he was overwhelmed by two others who wrestled him to the ground. He was later kicked to the upper body area.

A reference provided to Cambridge Crown Court by Warrant Officer Mark Jeffries said Hutter’s record was “exemplary” but magistrates said: “You’ve fallen below that standard.”

Hutter, who is being groomed for active service in 18 months and due to finish training in seven weeks, replied: “Yes, I know sir.”

However he escaped jail and unpaid work after Nicole Yates said in mitigation that it would be “utterly devastating if a community order for a period of drunkenness would ruin his career”.

He was instead fined �365 and ordered to pay �70 costs, as well as a �15 victim surcharge, after the court heard community requirements would be “unworkable” and “interfere with his military duties”.

The defendant, of Top Street, Stretham, is due to be sent to Germany in the next few weeks.

“Prior to joining the Army he had worked, but nothing has given him the same satisfaction and nothing has been so important to him,” Ms Yates said.

“He did have difficulties with behaviour in school but since joining the Army he has calmed himself down an awful lot.”

Ms Yates said he had turned to drink that evening because he had recently split from his girlfriend of seven years and lost two colleagues in the forces.

“It was a shameful episode of behaviour and one he does not seek to escape from whatsoever,” she added.

“He is very ashamed of his own behaviour.”